The cruise liner QE2′s last arrival, on 5th October 2008, in a ceremonial farewell to her birthplace in the Clyde was a waterborne carnival of an impromptu flotilla that saw TV presenter Muriel Gray rescued from a sinking craft.
The much loved ship had the misfortune to be bought by Dubai World just as the catastrophic results of casino banking were starting to be known.
The plan had been to use it as a floating hotel but the funds for the conversion vanished in the financial collapse we will continue to suffer from for another decade.
She has been berthed out at Port Rashid an unattractive home for a respected maritime lady used to the very best.
After earlier fears that the conversion to a hotel would see some of her superstructure irrecoverably amended, the fears now are very much worse – that she may not survive in any form.
Rumours are circulating fast that she is in the process of being sold to China for scrap.
It is not unlikely that a campaign will now be mounted from the UK – possibly to see her brought back to her commercial home port of Southampton for a dignified role into the future.
